Every Way

“Bryan. Holy shit, please.”

“You have no idea how wonderful you look right now. Fuck. Hailey. Just like that. Don’t stop. So close.”

I rutted against him as my walls pulled him deeper. His thumb pressed into my body, sending me catapulting over the edge. My hands slammed down onto his chest as I shook on top of him, my legs contracting, and my jaw unhinged in silent pleasure. I panted and moaned as high-pitched sounds made their way up my throat. I could feel my arousal pooling between his legs and coating his body with my scent.

His hands dug into me, holding me close. He released within me as my name dripped from his lips.

I collapsed onto him, and he instinctively rolled me over. Our bodies lay there, shaking and trembling as we recovered from our lust-filled passion. My leg was slung over his hip as he stayed buried inside of me, his cock harder than ever as we both caught our breath.

I opened my eyes and found Bryan staring at me, a grin on his cheeks and a healthy glow behind his eyes.

“I could have never asked for a better life partner,” he said.

“Even with everything I’ve done wrong?” I asked.

“It takes time to work out the kinks in a relationship. We still have them. But we’re working through them, and that’s what matters.”

He knew. He knew I was hiding something from him, but I couldn’t let that taint our moment. I couldn’t let that taint the perfect night we had experienced with one another.

“I love you, Bryan McBride.”

“And I love you, Hailey McBride.”

“We really have a lot going for us, don’t we?” I asked.

“Sure we do,” he said as he rolled me onto my back.

I groaned as he seated himself between my legs.

“We have this beautiful house.”

He thrust into me and pulled a gasp from my lips.

“We have a beautiful child on the way.”

He filled me again, and it rendered me speechless.

“We have your successful art career, and my work at the foundation.”

He picked up his pace as he leaned his lips down to mine.

“We even have each other,” he said against my skin. “And to me? That’s the most important one of all.”

My hands slid up his back and dug into the meat of his muscles. His hips connected with mine time and time again, bouncing my chest against his. I could feel his girth throbbing against me, growing bigger than I’d ever felt as his lips kissed my neck. He nibbled and sucked. He bit into my shoulder and cupped my breasts. His hips rolled into mine as his tightly-wound curls raked against my clit, and it curled my toes and spiraled me into yet another oblivious state.

Only this time, Bryan’s mouth swallowed my groans.

I climaxed against his body again as he smiled against me. I was shaking underneath him, pressing my hips up toward his. I wanted his thickness as deep as I could get him. I wanted him to touch me in all the ways no man had ever done before. His hand snaked around my waist, drawing my hips closer to him as his lips wrapped around my nipple.

And I shivered as he continued his assault on my body.

Chapter 13

Bryan

I was sitting in my office going through some financial reports when my cell phone rang. I slid it from my pocket and picked it up without looking at the number, and I cursed myself for not seeing who it was. Because the moment my mother’s voice hit my ears, I knew I was in for a treat.

And not the good kind.

“Hello, Bryan.”

“Mother,” I said. “Is something wrong?”

“Would something need to be wrong in order for me to call my son?” she asked.

“When I’m at work, yes.”

“How is work going, by the way?” she asked.

“It’s fine.”

“So the foundation is still alive and well?”

“Mother, what do you want?” I asked.

“I just want to talk with my son. Can’t you afford me that? Haven’t I lost enough?”

“You don’t get to use John’s death to get what you want,” I said.

“That is not what I am doing, and you know it,” she said.

“Really? Because it sounds an awful like what you just tried to do.”

“I miss my son. Our family dinner is coming up soon, and I want you and Hailey with us.”

“Then you know what you have to do,” I said. “All you have to do is apologize to Hailey for how you talked to her.”

“I do not. She has said plenty of things to me over these last few months that should have warranted apologies, and never once did I get one.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like that fun little tirade she went on right before the art gallery showcase when she accused your father and me of being pompous and allowing our money to change us. You remember that dinner? She was the one who stormed out, not me.”

“Because she had a point, and she was tired of you trying to degrade her for the profession in life she chose. Which is funny, because that’s exactly why she and her parents aren’t close now. Because they did the same thing. They looked down their noses at her for choosing a life of art and passion instead of a life of money and misery,” I said.

“I will not apologize to Hailey until she apologizes for some of the things she has said to Michael and me.”

“Then it sounds like this dinner won’t be put on the books,” I said.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?” I asked.

“Why are you isolating us from our grandchild?” she asked.

“Because you insinuated that Hailey would be a bad mother and then threatened to step in and intervene if you didn’t like the way things were going. You threatened to take our child away from us, and if there’s one thing I’m determined to do, it is to not raise my child the way you raised John and me.”

“You make me sound like I am some ... some sort of monster, some witch who abused you and ruined your lives!”

“There were plenty of mistakes made that I intend on correcting as a parent myself,” I said. “That’s all I’m saying.”

“No, what you’re saying is that John’s death is my fault.”

The statement halted my anger in my tracks.

“What?” I asked.

“That’s what you’re saying. You’re saying that the mistakes I made with John led him down the road he took, the road that ultimately killed him.”

“Mom, John died protecting the mother of your grandchild. His own actions to try and save another person got him killed, not your parenting style,” I said.

“Look. Whatever you might think of how I raised you, it will not cause me to apologize. Just because John’s situation ended up the way it did, it does not change anything about what I believe to be a proper and fitting lifestyle for a child. If anything, it reinforces it.”

“How in the world did we jump from you feeling guilty about John’s death to you taking our child away again?” I asked.

“I do not feel guilty about John’s death. His decision to dive into drugs instead of dealing with things the way a man needed to deal with them is what drove him down the road he took. Not the fact that I took away his watercolors. Now, all I am asking is that we sit down as a family and have dinner. This child deserves a proper family to be born into. Our grandchild deserves better than this.”

“Exactly. Which is why we will not be a part of a family dinner or any other familial function until you apologize and learn your place with the mother of your grandchild,” I said.

“My place? Listen here, you ungrateful child. You will not keep me from my grandbaby. I have every right to that child.”

“You have no rights when it comes to that child, first off. And mother, do you realize that all of this has spiraled simply because you refuse to apologize? Two words, minimum! Two words, and a heartfelt look in your eyes. You can’t even admit when you’ve crossed a line. Dorothy, you threatened to take away our—”

“You will not call me by my first name. I am your mother!”

“Then start acting like one,” I said.

The silence on the phone was deafening. I knew there was someone standing outside of my office because I could see the shadow. I was wondering how much of the conversation was overheard as I planted my elbows on my desk.

I didn’t have enough coffee in my system for this conversation.

“I don’t want you calling me until you’re ready to apologize to Hailey,” I said.

“Bryan—”

“No arguments. No bickering. No defense. That’s the bottom line. I’m at work, and the last thing I need to be doing is arguing with my mother over why she won’t apologize when she’s clearly in the wrong,” I said.

“I suggest you think long and hard about the woman you’re about to spend the rest of your life with. The truth of the matter was that she was involved with people who were caught up in drugs. And that says something about her as a person. You need to take a good, hard look in the mirror and figure out if that’s someone you want to be spending the rest of your life with. Children can be co-parented peacefully, but making a marriage work is hard. And pasts always catch up to people. Always. Especially the pasts of those addicted to drugs. If this is the last time we’re going to talk, then at least I’ve said my piece.”